


A Little Ray of Sunshine

by skys



Category: Homestuck
Genre: 30 Day OTP Challenge, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-01-03
Updated: 2015-01-05
Packaged: 2018-03-05 02:10:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,114
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3101297
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/skys/pseuds/skys
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>John is too awkward for his own good, and Dave just goes along with the ride.</p><p>(ON HOLD)</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Day One: Hand Holding

**Author's Note:**

> I have decided to partake in a 30 Day OTP Challenge, and have decided to go with John/Dave as my chosen ship!
> 
> The challenge: https://www.fanfiction.net/s/10083611/1/30-Day-OTP-Challenge  
> The prompt for today: hand holding.

It was a cold, frosty day. That much was very clear. John's breath whispered in front of him, tickling his bright pink nose as he walked down the street, his bright blue eyes laced with the quiet promises of a cool, but sunny, day. He glanced over to his best friend and companion, Dave Strider, who had his gaze sought out forwards, the tips of his ears a bright red from the touch of winter that surrounded the two boys. They walked in silence, either not noticing the tension between them or not choosing to acknowledge it. Either way, the two of them seemed content with the way that their shoulders would brush on occasion, or how they walk in sync with the other. The only issue with their situation was John's inability to keep his hands warm, and he was very wary of this. John had already stuffed his hands into his overly large hoodie pockets, but this was already a problem because the cool winter air still managed to find its way through the cotton, and he could not feel the way the tips of his fingers tingled with a distant bout of disapproval. 

Dave was still stoic as ever, though, and John briefly wondered if the guy could even  _feel_ cold. His shades masked any emotion, and his mouth as a thin line against his pale face. John frowned a bit and took his hands out of his pockets tentatively, bringing his hands towards his mouth and blowing whatever warm air he had supplied in his lungs onto them. This helped, for a short moment, but soon the freezing winter air was fiercer than ever, and John clenched his teeth, letting his hands fall to his sides again.

"The weather sucks." Dave's voice cut through the silence like a knife, and John looked up to see the stoically cool kid staring at him through his shades. Egbert paused, looking at the Strider and shrugging neatly, before turning his head towards the sidewalk again.

"It could be worse, Dave." he said idly. "There are some people in the world who're practically burning to death 'cause of the heat." he kicked some snow off his shoe as they continued to tread through the town slowly, making their way back to John's home at their own pace.

"Yeah, and at this rate I'd rather be chillin' with them." Dave replied swiftly. "I thought you said it never got cold around here?"

John laughed a bit. "I did not say that!" he protested. "I said it never got  _too_ cold around here." 

Dave rolled his eyes and continued after the boy, glancing at him. "If this isn't  _too cold_ , then you have my permission to call my monkey an uncle." he said aloud, forcing himself to hold back a smile as John snorted at his words. John's smile was honestly one of the cutest things he could think of. 

"Dude, that's not even how the quote goes, you dork." John said affectionately, shoving Dave with his shoulder. The Strider, without warning, moved swiftly, grabbing John's hand and intertwining their cool fingers, squeezing his friend's hand quickly. Dave felt John tense a bit at his actions, but the blonde was too quick to the chase to allow his bro to speak.

"See? Even your hands are like goddamn icicles. It's like the North Pole took a shit on the town. It's like Jack Frost threw up over us." 

His distraction worked very well as John scrunched up his face at his words, suddenly too caught up in the conversation to care much about how Dave had made such a quick maneuver. "Ew, dude, that's a terrible image to put in my head. What the heck?" he laughed a bit as the Strider shrugged. "Not cool."

Dave pretended to flinch at John's words. "Bro, did you just call me 'not cool'? That's like my kryptonite, dude. I'm like fuckin' Superman, and you just poured a bucket of that shit over me. That hurt, bro. Right here." Dave, with the hand that was not intertwined with his friend's, motioned to his heart. 

John rolled his eyes. "You're a nerd." he pointed out, laughing as Dave gasped.

"At this rate I'm gonna' be nothing but Clark Kent by the time we get to your place." 

This was proven untrue, because about twenty or so minutes later, the two of them were walking through John's front door, laughing and joking loudly. They giggled and attempted to stifle their voices as the raven haired boy led his friend up the staircase to his room, suddenly pausing. It wasn't until that moment did the Egbert truly notice something.

They were still holding hands. 


	2. Day Two: Cuddling Somewhere

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The challenge: https://www.fanfiction.net/s/10083611/1/30-Day-OTP-Challenge  
> The prompt for today: cuddling somewhere.

It would be a beautiful day. John could tell, as he sat inside his bedroom on a cold but bright morning, eyes aglow with the light as it burned through the glass of his window. His blue eyes glittered like crystals - much like the snow that hung outside. Speaking of snow, John felt excitement pull in his mind.  _Snow! It had snowed!_ Not that it hadn't snowed before, but this was special! This was the type of snow that cancelled school days - the type that clung to every surface and shined like stars. This was what John had been waiting for. This was what he had wanted.

You see, ever since his best and good friend Dave Strider had come to stay at John's place for the winter holidays, the Egbert had heard nothing but complaints from his friend. Stuff about 'how nice and toasty Texas would be now' or 'how fat Dave looked in winter jackets'. It was nothing but endless negativity. John sighed and turned his head a bit as he thought about this. He felt a bit more of a smile grow, though, as he reminisced on the elegant snowflakes that fell carefully down from the sky.

_Just wait until you see this, Strider!_

Speaking of Dave, a grumble told John that he was waking up. The Egbert reluctantly pulled himself away from the window sill and made his way down beside the edge of his friend's mattress, kneeling down quietly.

"Yo." John greeted the blonde, who rolled over lazily to face him. "Whaddup', homie?"

There was a slight pause, before Dave's brilliant red eyes flashed up at John. "Don't ever fucking say that shit again, Egbert." Dave muttered, his voice heavy with sleep.

John pretended to whine a bit. "Aw, but Dave! I'm trying to be _cool_!" he laughed as Dave raised an eyebrow. "At least admit: it was a good try."

"Good try?" Dave scoffed and rolled onto his back. "Oh,  _sure_." he began to drawl sarcastically. "You're  _cool_. Nah, you know what, bro? You're not cool. You're like fuckin' ice. You're like Frosty the goddamn Snowman up in this shit. You aren't cool. Cool is you. You invented that shit."  _  
_

John laughed loudly, poking Dave's side eagerly as the blonde continued to speak. "Shut up, Dave." he smirked and poked his friend in the side again. "Just get outta' bed so we can get some food."

 _And so I can show you the snow_ , thought John to himself.

"Stop poking me, Egderp." Dave shied away from the next assault to his sides and suddenly caught John's wrist in his hand. "Let a sleeping man lie."

John sighed and tried tugging his hand away, to no avail. "You're not a man, Dave." he pointed out, still attempting to wrangle his wrist away.

"Wow, John. Wound a guy's pride, would you?" Dave laughed a bit as he moved again, taking John's other hand in his and pulling the raven haired boy forwards. John gasped as he was tugged down, chest-to-chest with Dave, and his shoulder collided with the mattress. Dave chuckled and moved over, letting his friend's hands go in the process but letting himself touch noses with John instead, red eyes alive with fire behind his pupils. 

"Oh." John whispered, noticing their position immediately. His hand was draped over Dave's chest, and his legs were already naturally intertwined with the blonde's. His other arm was folded between the two - the only barrier from their chests touching - but this didn't stop Dave was resting his forehead against John, who was beet red and burning like a torch. 

"Sup." Dave whispered, his eyes half-lidded tiredly. He closed them soon enough, and John was left staring at the quickly fading conscious of the freckled boy instead of the very smooth, and very ironic figure he had just been communicating with recently. Dave was falling asleep cuddling John.

"D-Dave?" John muttered, but it was too late. His friend's breathing had gone shallow and his mouth was slightly agape. John froze, wondering what on Earth he was supposed to do now. He could totally just leave, but  _goddamn Dave was warm - how had he not noticed before?_

Sighing, John let himself sink into the slow, but very comfortable position, without realizing it. Seconds later, he was asleep, and the two of their body's seemed to glow in delight. Whether or not John knew it, it would be hours before either of them would awake - the snow would be all but slush by then, and the amazement would have melted along with it. But one thing that the Egbert was not aware of, was that Dave had already seen the beauty of winter. No snow required. Yes, Dave was very familiar with it by now. It did not only lie in the warmth of the fires that burned to create a beacon for spring, but also in the hearts of those who built it, and suddenly the Strider did not want to go home. 

 _Yes,_ Dave thought when he began to wake up in John's arms, entangled in their embrace,  _I would much rather stay here._


	3. Day Three: Gaming/Watching a Movie

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The challenge: https://www.fanfiction.net/s/10083611/1/30-Day-OTP-Challenge  
> The prompt for today: gaming/watching a movie.

John was not good at gaming. Dave was, sure. He could no-scope, 360 shoot a fast-moving target on CoD from the back of the room, if he wanted. But John? He couldn't place a block in Minecraft without fucking  _something_ up. That was made very clear to Dave after countless hours attempting to win multiple online games. Finally, there was a silence in the room, before a shout of: "Fuck it - I give up!" and a controller was thrown halfway across the couch, rocketing over the floor and making an irritable 'bang' noise.

"Dave!" John whined loudly, pausing the game before them and turning his head to his best friend. "Dude, what's wrong?"

The blonde fumed, narrowing his eyes behind his shades and glaring at the Egbert passionately. "What's wrong?  _What's wrong?_ That's the eighty-seventh time you've shot me in the fucking head, bro! That's what's wrong!"

John cocked his head curiously. "Isn't that the aim of the game? Kill everyone?"

Dave gripped the sides of the couch with a tight squeeze, whitening his knuckles. "Yeah." he said through clenched teeth. "Everyone  _but_ your team."

There was silence as John stared at the screen with a stupid expression, before finally managing the word "oh" as he switched the television to the cable network instead. "Sorry about that." he frowned, glancing at the floor as some random show blared on the monitor. 

Dave sighed, feeling a bit bad for his dous of rage. "Nah." he shrugged it off, scooching over a bit so that he and John were bumping hips looking directly into one another's eyes. "It's cool."

John flashed him a thankful smile and pulled back a bit, gripping the remote and waving it at the Strider. "So," he began, his blue eyes glimmering. "wanna' watch a movie instead?" 

Dave paused. They  _had_ been gaming nearly all day, and a movie  _did_ sound kind of nice at the moment. So, giving into the temptation of saying 'no' just to screw with his friend, Dave nodded and fell back against the cushiony couch, watching John lean forwards a bit to flip through the channels, searching for a film. There were plenty on - it was a Saturday, so of course quite a few channels decided to show movies. The best part about it, though? They were all cheesy Christmas movies. Exactly what John needed to start getting Dave into the winter spirit.

Eventually, the raven haired boy decided on Rudolph - the classic one, with the claymation. Sitting back, it took a moment for John to notice that he was leaning into Dave's arm, which was now over his shoulder. Flushing a bright red, he stayed stoically still, caught like a deer in the headlights. He risked a glance to Dave in the opening scene of the film, happy enough to find that the blonde either didn't seem to mind their position, or hadn't even noticed himself. Either way, John was relaxed, so he comfortably lent his head onto his friend's shoulder and let the movie begin.

It was quite cute. John had forgotten some bits, and when the bouncy little Rudolph started flying around on the screen after the pretty reindeer, Clairese, called him cute, John started giggling a bit. It was adorable. It kind of reminded him of his first crushes, and how he had thought they would last forever. Alas, no. John felt himself crumple a bit at the thought. He hadn't had a single relationship that had lasted, nor made his heart soar like the red-nosed reindeer on the monitor.

Dave seemed to notice John's sudden lack of emotion, because he turned his head a bit to glance at the Egbert solemnly. "Don't you like the movie?" he asked, running a hand through John's hair. 

The black haired boy nodded. "I like it." he said, leaning into Dave's touch a bit. "It just... makes me a bit sad."

The blonde raised an eyebrow in confusion. "Rudolph prancing around happily makes you  _sad_? I know you're weird, Egderp, but that's some strange shit." he laughed a bit as John shook his head tersely.

"No - no!" the smaller boy protested firmly. "It's not the actual movie - it's just..." he trailed off. "It's the concept of love, okay?" he grumbled embarrassingly. "They make it seem like the first person you fall for is your immediate husband, but that's not the way it works, is it?"

There was a long moment of silence from Dave, who had either gone back to the movie or had fallen asleep behind his shades without John's realization. Either way, it took him about five or so minutes to finally respond, and throughout that there was a dark brewing in the Egbert's head about the notion of love, and the reason behind an elf ever wanting to be a doctor.

"You said husband." were the words that finally sprang from Dave's mouth, abruptly stirring John from his thoughts. The boy tensed as he noticed this too. He  _had_ said husband - and, worst of all, he had  _meant_ to say it. The blonde was now staring down at the black haired boy with a brief intensity that, honestly, mildly frightened poor John, and he sunk down into Dave's arms, burying his face into his chest and letting his blush settle.

"Yeah." he breathed out. "I did."

More silence, before once again Dave found words.

"Y-You're -?"

"Yeah."

"Oh."

Perhaps John had just realized it, but yes, he was... gay. Well, not gay - no - he had liked girls, and girls had liked him - no... he was... bisexual, he guessed? Was that the right word for it? He didn't know. Frankly, he also didn't care. All that mattered right now was how close he was to Dave, and how utterly stupid the miner from the movie was.

"The hairy guy should go back to school." John felt it his duty to point out. Dave tensed up a bit, and for a second the Egbert wondered if he'd said something wrong, but then his friend was laughing, and then he was laughing, and then  _\- oh my god Dave was hugging him_.

"You're such a dork." Dave whispered into John's hair. The smaller boy laughed a bit and hugged back tightly, nuzzling into Dave's neck comfortably. 

"Hurt a guy's pride, would you?" he said back, allowing Dave to laugh again.

"You've used my own words against me." Dave feigned hurt, pulling back for a second to look at John happily. "That's a new low, Egghead."

John smirked. "My nickname has leveled up, I see."

The Strider smiled - no, like, he  _really_ smiled. Like, one of those smiles where people show all their teeth, and you can see the little lines that indicate they've smiled a lot before. And, in response, John melted, feeling his heart quicken and his mind kind of just fart and die. That was a terrible thing to say. I'm sorry for giving you that image. But yes, John's mind farted. It farted because  _holy fuck Dave Strider was beautiful_. _  
_

"It has ascended into a higher form of being." Dave replied smartly, whisking John out of his thoughts forcefully. But the smile remained. This made John scream a little inside.

"Y-Yeah?" the smaller boy's voice was high and squeaky, as if he'd gone back years of puberty and plucked his vocal chords from his throat. Holy shit, he sounded goddamn stupid. Pull it together, John. Dave is  _right fucking there, and you sound like a middle school geek_.

John coughed a bit and pretended to clear his throat. "S-Sorry." he stammered, trying not to look at Dave's shades. "M-Must be coming down with something, or... something."

_Smooth._

Dave's smile fell into a smirk, and an eyebrow raised in response. "Oh?" he drawled. "Well, we can't have that if you're to go out tomorrow."

There was an obvious silence, in which John collected his thoughts and hammered them into dust. "Tomorrow?" his voice was utterly blank now, and his head had gone into autodrive. What was Dave talking about? He had no plans for tomorrow.

"Yeah, tomorrow." suddenly the Strider was standing up, unattaching himself from John's arms. But the Egbert took no notice, as he jumped up after Dave, attempting to pull him back.

"What am I doing tomorrow?" he asked sternly, curiosity successfully killing the imaginary cat. 

Dave finally spun around so that they were face-to-face, and John was reminded as to why he had been blushing so much previously. Dave moved a bit closer until they were nearly touching noses, before whispering something and dashing off to the bathroom, slamming the door shut. Seven words - seven words that literally broke John Egbert right in two and remade him. Seven words was all it took to melt that goddamn boy right in the middle of the hallway. 

"You're going on a date with me."

 


End file.
